WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - US President Barack Obama said on Friday (Nov 4) that he does not believe FBI Director James Comey was trying to influence the presidential election when he decided the agency would examine newly discovered e-mails in its probe of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's private server.

"Now I've said before and I'll say again, Jim Comey is a good man," Mr Obama said in an interview on MSNBC. "And I do not believe that he is in any way trying to influence the election one way or another. I think he is a serious public servant who wants to do the right thing," Mr Obama said.